Your Truth is Out There (Find Your Truth Book 1) (30 page)

Ricnor dropped Jelnit’s limp body and stood up to face his attacker, only to find his former prisoners: the Dremin, the accountant’s wife, and those two ridiculous Earthlings staring back at him. It had been the large one, Alcorn, who had spoken.

“Is that so?” said Ricnor looking around. He talked slowly, trying to get his bearings. “Nice trick, especially for a primitive. I’m guessing you had help.”

“You’d be guessing correctly,” said Alcorn, smugness oozing from every pore. Ricnor couldn’t wait to turn the tables and wipe that look from the primitive’s face. “This was all compliments of our mutual friend, Gsefx. He really is something with computers and electronics.” The Earthling looked around the room at all of Ricnor’s associates unconscious on the floor.

“Enough of this,” said Ricnor with a growl. He grabbed an obliterator from the floor, aimed it at the Earthling and attempted to fire, but nothing happened. He threw the weapon down and picked up a different one, an annihilator this time. Same result.

“They won’t work,” said the Earthling. “None of them will. As I said, that Gsefx is really something with electronics. I, on the other hand, don’t know all that much, but it seems that one of the drawbacks with having all of your weapons networked like you do, is that it makes it easier to hack your entire system. When I busted Dilnch’s obliterator, it set off a chain reaction that shut everything down, including all of your weapons.”

“Isn’t he the clever little accountant,” said Ricnor, pulling his spike and moving toward Alcorn and the others. He stopped when the Earthling pulled a different type of weapon from behind him and pointed it at Ricnor.

“But here’s one that does work,” said the Alcorn. “Nothing electronic about it. It’s a primitive Earth weapon called a .357 Magnum. Gsefx used it to fix his ship the first time he came to Earth. After he repaired his ship, he put it back together, tossed it in a storage compartment and forgot about it. Lucky for me. Also lucky that you didn’t search me. I guess you were too busy hoping I would share some vital information to worry about whether or not I was armed.”

“Well, well, well,” said Ricnor with a smile, although he found little humor in his situation, “it seems Gsefx isn’t the only clever one in your little gang, is he? Now that you have me at a disadvantage, what would you have me do?”

“For starters, I would have you toss that pretty little stick of yours over this way, nice and easy.”

Ricnor maintained his smile and bowed low.

“But of course,” he said, “we’re all friends here. I would be most happy to grant your request. But first, before I give up my only means of defense, might I inquire about your longer term plans. More specifically, what do you plan to do with me?”

“I think you should kill him now,” said a different voice. It came from the Dremin, Qilzar.

“What do you think, Ricnor?” said Alcorn. “Qilzar here thinks I ought to shoot you now and be done with it.”

“I think Qilzar should stick to accounting,” growled Ricnor, “and leave battlefield tactics to the ones who know what they’re doing. You haven’t answered my question. Do you even know what you plan to do with me, beyond getting me to drop my weapon, that is?”

Alcorn laughed.

“Oh yes,” he said, “the Galactic Community Police are already on their way. They’ll be here long before any of your people regain consciousness and before you can talk your way out of anything. So, for the last time, put down your weapon.”

The Earthling did something with his weapon that made it seem distinctly more menacing.

Ricnor was beaten and he knew it, but what he couldn’t figure out, was how. He leaned over and dropped his spike onto the floor, but as he did, the entire wall to his right burst open knocking him, and more importantly his attackers, to the ground. When he was able to look up, Gruleg was there in one of their short-range scout vehicles. He’d turned it to shield them from the Earthling and his crew.

“Get in, Boss!” said Gruleg, as he opened the passenger door. “Hurry!”

Ricnor didn’t have to be told twice. He grabbed his spike and dove into the vehicle head first, just as projectiles, presumably from the Earthling’s primitive weapon, flew by his head.

“I’m in! I’m in! Get us out of here.”

Gruleg did just that, flying through the hole he’d created on his way in.

Ricnor looked back just in time to see the Earthling aim his weapon uselessly at them as they made their escape.

“Gruleg, I owe you my life. I told you once already that you’ve done well and you’d be rewarded. Now, doubly so.”

“I’m just glad we got out of there with our skins, boss. I don’t know what happened, but someone hit us hard.”

“I know who hit us and they will pay, I promise you that, Gruleg. Take us to the main bay. We’re going to need a bigger ship.”

“Yes Boss.”

Henry sat up in his seat and rubbed his eyes.

“Ohhh … maaaann,” he said, as he stretched his arms and looked around. “I must have dozed off. Where are we …?” A glance out of the side window woke him up immediately. “Holy crap! Where’d all of these other ships come from?”

“You’ve been asleep for just over one of your hours,” said Gsefx with a smile. “As for where we are, we’re in the Neljim Quadrant, but that probably doesn’t mean much to you. Let’s just say you’re not in Kansas anymore.”

“Cute,” replied Henry with a deadpan nod, “but for the record, I’m from Oklahoma.”

Gsefx started to respond, but Henry interrupted, he was too fascinated by all of the other ships outside.

“This is unbelievable,” he said, looking first out of the side window, then the front, then the side again.

Henry had watched his share of sci-fi movies, but they paled in comparison to his current reality. There were ships everywhere, literally thousands of them, no, tens of thousands, of all shapes and sizes, and going in all different directions. But there was no haphazardness about their movements, no recklessness. It was chaotic, but there was a harmony to the chaos, as if orchestrated by an all-seeing, all-knowing conductor.

Henry looked at his friend as he piloted their ship along their route, as if it were simply another ordinary day, and he was once again filled with a renewed sense of wonder and respect for this four-armed, blue-skinned being from … well, not from Earth.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” said Gsefx, a puzzled look on his face.

Henry looked back out of his window again, then suddenly turned back toward Gsefx.

“Wait … how fast are we going?” he said, his calm disappearing, replaced with a concern he felt growing stronger with each passing second.

“How fast are we going?” repeated Gsefx. “Why do you care how fast we’re going?”

Henry waved his hand around, pointing at the other ships flying near them.

“Because there are ships, Gsefx, a lot of ships, all of them very close to one another, and all traveling at, what I’m guessing, are really, really high speeds …” As the words tumbled out of his mouth, Henry felt the pace at which they flowed begin to increase correspondingly with the rise in the pitch at which they were spoken. He could feel his heart beating faster, too. “I’m wondering what happens if someone makes a mistake and bumps into someone else. It seems like it would be bad, Gsefx, really, really bad.”

Gsefx smiled again, this time it was a kind, if condescending, smile, the kind a parent gives when they find humor in the unfounded fears of their child.

“You have nothing to worry about, Henry,” he said. “We are perfectly safe.”

“Are you sure?” asked Henry, feeling himself creeping ever closer to the edge of hysteria.

“Of course I’m sure, Henry. Please try and calm down and I’ll try to explain it in a way that you will be able understand. I’m not sure how successful I will be, but I will try.”

Henry held up his hand.

“Just make it simple enough so I won’t feel as if we’re about to die an imminent fiery death at any minute.”

“Of course.” Gsefx took a deep breath, pressed several buttons on the console in front of him, and looked over at Henry. “I just put us on auto-pilot, so we can talk without any concerns. The ship will take care of everything. Now, I could tell you that we’re traveling at 4.7 Vrax, but, like our location, that wouldn’t mean anything to you.”

“Auto-pilot? Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Henry, you’re going to have to trust me.”

Henry closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Okay,” he said. “Tell me about this Vrax. Is it some variation of light speed … um … traveling at the speed of light? Because that, I can kind of understand.”

“No, I’m afraid not,” said Gsefx. “Light speed is … well … it’s a rather primitive concept, I’m afraid. Theories based on anything as antiquated as ‘speed-of-light travel’ are simply of no real value out here. The distances we must regularly travel are too vast and must be covered more efficiently.”

“Hmmm, light speed is primitive. Okay, so what is a Vrax?”

“Vrax isn’t a what, it’s a who. She was the engineer who developed our current mode of travel and so it was named in her honor. I’m not an engineer, so I can’t tell you a lot about it, any more than most humans can probably tell you about their automobiles, but Vraxian technology allows us to travel, what would otherwise be unfathomable distances relatively quickly, using very little fuel and with no tangible effects to the organic life forms inside.”

Henry thought about this for several minutes as he watched all of the other ships flying in all directions around them. As he did so, and could see how smoothly all of the ships interacted with one another, he felt his fears of dying in a fiery crash begin to subside, only to be replaced by another, equally pressing concern.

“When you say unfathomable distances, what do you mean, exactly? Gsefx, how far away from Earth are we?”

“About three-and-a-half-hours, in Earth-time,” said Gsefx calmly, clearly not perceiving Henry’s concern.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” said Henry. “How many miles?”

“I don’t know the exact distance in Earth miles and honestly Henry, why is exact distance of more importance than the time it takes to travel it?”

“I don’t know,” said Henry, after thinking about it, but not being able to come up with a good answer. “It just is.”

“Henry, I know this is all pretty overwhelming to you and that I’m asking you to accept a lot of new information quickly, but you must trust me when I tell you that we are perfectly safe and that you will be able to return home whenever you want.”

Henry sighed and nodded his head. He was trying to understand and accept all of this, it just wasn’t working very well. He had always been able to adapt pretty easily to new situations, but this was too much. He looked out the window and found the chaos of the other ships threatening to overwhelm him once again. He was finding it hard to breath.

“All of these ships, all of this chaos,” he said, trying to catch his breath, “how can you be so calm? I just don’t see how this is all working without ships crashing into one another?”

“As I said, I know this is all very difficult,” said Gsefx, “but I need you, Henry. My life, the way it once was, is over, I know that. I can never go back to just being an accountant and having a normal life. I’ve accepted that and I’m okay with it. But, to have any chance of getting my wife back, I need you.”

“I know that, Gsefx, and I’m trying, but …”

“Please let me finish. What you need to understand is that what you’re seeing right now, all of this traffic, this is not busy right now. Nor is this even remotely chaotic, compared to what you’re about to experience in just a few minutes.”

At Gsefx’s words Henry’s stomach sunk and his heart skipped a beat. He started to object but Gsefx stopped him before he could respond.

“Henry, let me try to make an analogy as best I can. We are traveling on, what would be comparable to an interstate highway on Earth, which, out here, links the long stretches of space in between planets.”

Henry took a deep breath and tried to focus on Gsefx’s voice.

“Okay, that seems to make sense,” he said, “but I have to tell you, Earth’s highways are not all that safe, so if you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.”

“Well, be that as it may, we’re on the highway, but we’re just ebyts … err … minutes away from exiting the highway and entering what you might think of as city streets. Because we’re traveling so fast, we’re not able to see our destination planet, Laxor, but we’re not far from it. When we exit the “highway” we’re on, in favor of the “city streets,” the planet will not only be visible but it will fill most of our field of vision. Moreover, the number of vehicles is going to increase exponentially.”

“This is still not making me feel any better,” said Henry.

“Perhaps not, but think about your highways and city streets for a moment. Now, think about how those highways and streets might appear to someone who you would consider a primitive from Earth’s past.”

Henry thought about it for a moment, and as he did so, something clicked in his mind, as if a door he didn't even know existed had been flung wide open, revealing an entirely new way to look at his situation.

“You mean like a caveman or something?” he asked as a feeling of serenity flowed out from this new-found door and he began breathing easier.

“I haven’t done that much research on Earth’s history,” said Gsefx, “but I trust you know who to choose.”

“Yes, the caveman was, to us, the first form of humankind. They literally lived in caves, hunted with spears, and walked everywhere they went. For them to see our highways and city streets would be overwhelming and terrifying.”

“And yet,” said Gsefx, “you feel perfectly safe traveling on them every day, right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” said Henry. “They’re not perfectly safe. We still have accidents, and people die on them every day.”

“That’s where things differ out here. We have accidents, there’s no way to avoid them. However, regardless of how bad the accident is, occupant safety is the mandated first priority of every Vrax-Vehicle. If, for some reason, we were to be in the worst possible accident we could be in, you and I would be encased in individual ejection pods, and moved to a safe distance from the accident scene.”